Where are you on the journey?
If your employees are not living the organisation’s brand values internally then it’s going to be next to impossible to build the brand externally.
It’s surprising how much money and effort organisations put into building and promoting external brands when things just aren’t right on the inside. When culture is fragmented across different areas of the business. When employees just don’t have a clear view of the road ahead or who’s driving the organisation. When employee disengagement starts to spread because the organisation forgot how to challenge or reward them. When recruitment campaigns fail to get a result. When sales volumes start to dip because enthusiasm and belief for the organisation’s products and services just aren’t there any more. When change moves employees out of their traditional comfort zones and brings on stress and discomfort. When efforts to communicate with employees fall on deaf ears.
Organisations are switched on these days to identifying the warning signs but tend to experience significant difficulty when it comes to finding solutions.
Most branding consultants are inexperienced when it comes to thinking strategically and creatively to identify employee-related issues and finding ways to prescribe solutions – ones which, in many cases, significantly affect the future wellbeing of the organisation. Consulting firms tend to focus on business processes and the bottom line. Employer branding consultants like Heywood Innovation however, focus on employee-related issues and opportunities and how the organisation is perceived as a competent and attractive employer from both the inside and the outside.
Which one did you go for?
The world is moving online and so are investors.
You’ve decided to transition your communications online and wind down the old print versions.
Online annual reports, sustainability reports, websites, e-newsletters and much more.
Makes sense.
There may even be some cost efficiencies!
You meet with your design agency who hand over their fees estimate.
You hit the roof and disbelief sets in.
Sound familiar?
Enter Heywood Innovation.
One of the most experienced online communications teams.
High value and industry leading results.
Ten reasons why you should be moving your printed communications online.
1 Print can be expensive – mailing certainly is.
2 Online can be a more compelling experience – video, animation etc.
3 Tablets and smartphones are outselling PCs this year – notice the trend.
4 People want their communications right here, right now – not next week.
5 Stick with print and they may perceive you as a stick-in-the-mud company.
6 Your print design team will try and hold you back – their jobs are at stake.
7 Your competitors are probably already moving there – with your customers.
8 There are cost efficiencies we can identify for you – smaller budgets, bigger results.
9 You’ll get to know who is reading your communications – and what they’re reading.
10 Online communications can be produced quickly – a lot faster than printed ones.
MORNING STAR GOLD
In collaboration with Steve Levett, a well respected Australian video director, we conceived and planned a corporate video for Australian mining company Morning Star Gold. The video tells the story of the re-birth of the Morning Star mine, once Australia’s premier gold mine located in the alpine region of NE Victoria. In 1861 gold was first discovered near where Woods Point is now located, which sparked another gold rush hot on the heels of the earlier one in the Bendigo-Ballarat area of Victoria. The video traces the history of the mine and celebrates the efforts of the present owner Morning Star Gold which is producing gold from the mine for the first time since 1962. The production included on ground and below ground video shoots and an aerial sequence.
There’s much debate in investor relations circles these days surrounding the topic of annual reports and the relevant benefits of print and online. Printed reports can certainly have a reassuring tactile quality and it’s true that their imminent demise has been exaggerated.
The debate however has moved on. There is a consensus that online is rapidly becoming the prevailing delivery platform for a number of compelling reasons:
> it is commercially attractive from a distribution perspective (no more printing, envelopes, mailing house costs, postage);
> it is appealing from an environmental viewpoint (no need to deplete the forests);
> online is a more engaging format that can provide an enhanced experience for shareholders, whether it’s using video, interactive elements or providing information in useful formats such as Excel and XBRL.
These formats provide a depth of information that can easily be imported into analytical tools so that a company’s yearly results and performance can be meticulously measured against the same company’s previous years’ performance as well as against competitor companies.
But that’s just the beginning of the argument in support of online. The next part of the story centres around which online format is important to shareholders. As we become more nomadic in our everyday lives and the boundary between work and life fades, there is a rapid shift away from desktop towards adoption of mobile technology – netbooks, tablets and smartphones. This is confirmed by predictions that the combined sales of tablets and smartphones in 2011 will exceed those of PCs. We believe that these devices will play an increasingly important role in providing the next big communications platform for online annual reports.
Heywood Innovation was the first company in Australia to embrace online annual reporting over ten years ago, and our focus on the UK and Australian markets is now encompassing the design and delivery of online reports for portable devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and smartphones, in addition to the more conventional online formats.
We invite you to view some of our latest projects at www.heywood.com.au
If you had any doubts about the accelerating shift from print to online consumption of information, above are a few snippets of information in support of the argument. The team here at Heywood Innovation have had a determined focus on the new opportunities that have opened up in the online space, particularly in the investor communications area, ever since we pioneered the introduction of online annual reporting here in Australia in 2001. It seems the days of the traditional PC are numbered, a casualty of the associated technology shift to a more convenient mobile model. The future is tablet shaped and sized. We look forward to constantly degreasing our finger tips and de-streaking (new tablet terminology) our tablet screens.
MORNING STAR GOLD
Morning Star Gold is presently breathing new life into the Morning Star Mine in the remote alpine region of north-east Victoria – once Australia’s premier gold mine. The local township of Woods Point sprang up when gold was discovered by Irishman Willliam Gooley in 1861 while prospecting near the Goulburn River. This prompted a wild rush for gold and by the mid 1860s around 50 large mines were in operation. To celebrate MSG’s commitment to the local Woods Point community and these pioneering miners, we have created the inaugural William Gooley Memorial Award for Community Service. This award, sponsored by Morning Star Gold, will be presented to a standout contributor to the local community in early 2011. Our involvement included concept, copy writing and design of logos, award and poster.
PAN PACIFIC PETROLEUM
Pan Pacific Petroleum is an ASX-listed oil company operating in New Zealand and Western Australia. This is the fourth printed annual report and third html ‘microsite’ annual report we have designed and produced for PPP. The online version features a ‘landing page’ style for the home page facilitating several points of entry to the report, enabling readers to access faster than with traditional single navigation access.
FULL REPORT
So you’ve applied your strategic and creative genius to launch new employer branding activities, but then the CEO asks you to report on the ROI! How do you do this? How do you go about measuring ROI? It’s not easy to measure. You can for example engage a talented copy writer to improve your job ads and measure the number of responses, but this has little to do with building a strong and sustainable employer brand. Most metrics are likely to be linked to tactics or one-off campaign activities, not real employer branding. So what is involved? Here are a few pointers to start you on your journey…
Employee engagement
A good measure of ROI are the levels of employee engagement before and after the employer branding activities kicked in. By surveying the workforce before and after the activities you will be able to identify how effective they were, which ones hit the mark and which ones didn’t, and refine them accordingly.
Length of service/retention
This cannot be calculated in the short term. If length of service figures are increasing then it’s fair to say that the new EB activities may be driving higher levels of engagement and that employees have a new found higher regard for their employer and the employment experience.
Customer service
Are customer surveys highlighting new levels of satisfaction with the sales experience, the purchasing experience, the order processing experience, the delivery experience and the after sales experience? Were they greeted with a new found smile and a thank you? Are sales figures increasing?
Ideas and recommendations from employees
Are employees suddenly forthcoming with new ideas on how they can do their job better, save on production times, increase team performance and satisfaction, or ways to enhance the customer experience?
Cost per hire
Are you receiving more speculative applications from job seekers? Is this allowing you to reduce your reliance on advertising and external recruiters?
Job applications
Are applicants better empowered with information and an understanding of the job for which they are applying and the career opportunity? Is it because you now have a more compelling and informative Careers section on your website or are other improvements responsible? Are more job seekers visiting the website and, if so, are they the right ones? Are your job ads better written, more informative and more inspiring?
Higher productivity
Are production figures rising without additional resources? Do employees in the production area seem happier with their work and are they putting in a bigger effort?
Referral rates
Are you receiving more ‘better fit’ job applications from people who have been referred by your employees?
Internal engagement
Are present employees more engaged with their work, their colleagues and with managers? Do they have a smile on their face? Has their behaviour shifted to one where collaboration is the norm?
Living the brand
How well is the organisation’s brand being emotionally received and lived by employees? Are they willing to defend and promote it to customers, colleagues, friends and new job applicants? Do they do this ‘from the heart’? Are they ambassadors for the brand, who instill a positive perception in the minds of customers?
Moving forward
Are employees keen to engage with personal development programmes, training programmes and do so willingly? Do they perceive the benefits flow through on personal, work, career and organisational levels?
Offer:accept ratio
Has this improved? If you previously had a 4:1 offer:accept rate, but now have a 3:1 rate, then you can reasonably say the EB activities are taking effect.
Recruitment campaign effectiveness
Are more people responding to your recruitment campaigns? Are they perceiving a more compelling offer? Does the campaign look more attractive and have stronger messages? Is it achieving more ‘cut-through’?
Employer of choice
Have employees since achieved greater clarity on what the organisation is, what it does, what it stands for… and how the employment experience it provides can benefit their career, job satisfaction and lifestyle requirements?
So do you think after your investigations you’ll be armed with sufficient data and feedback to look your boss in the eyes and tell him/her with great conviction that the organisation’s investment in building a strong employer brand has paid off? I hope so.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and London with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, Singapore and Mumbai.